Racist, sexist US president Donald Trump stepped up his assault on ordinary people last week by announcing plans to cut legal immigration figures in half.

One million people currently come to the US each year.

A bill proposed by senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, and endorsed by Trump, would see the introduction of a points-based immigration system if passed.

Included in the bill are details of the conditions for entry. You get more points for speaking English.

Similar rules have been used to reinforce racism in states such as Australia.

The bill would also get rid of migrants’ right to bring their families to the US after them. This is the measure which is estimated will cut immigration in half within a decade.

The changes will force more people to try to get into the US by other means. The right has tried to argue that “higher quality” migrants will benefit the US.

But the racist divisions the bill is designed to stoke will only benefit the people at the top of that society.

Claims that low skilled workers are a downward pull on wages are becoming more prevalent.

Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents ramped up their intimidation last week. They arrested 33 “criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants and immigration violators” in west Michigan in a four-day operation.

Meanwhile, Trump continued his right wing agenda by rolling back restrictions on mining for coal on government land.

The US government controls 643 million acres of land, an area six times the size of the huge state of California.

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